Peter Lee
B.S. in Chemical Biology, 2007, University of California, Berkeley
I am working on how noncanonical functions of aminoacyl tRNA synthetases evolved in biological systems. These novel functions have been acquired and retained at precise times during the evolution of higher organisms. In particular, tyrosyl-tRNA synthetase (YRS) has gained an ELR tripeptide, the signature sequence of CXC chemokines. Simultaneously, an EMAPII domain was added to the C-terminus of the enzyme. I am studying the structure-function relationship of this enzyme and the sequence and structural context that made possible the evolution of these novel functions in this and other human tRNA synthetases. This work on the multifunctional YRS has potential therapeutic applications that are also being explored.
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